hadn't come forward, both little girls hadn't come forward right away, i don't know we would have had as much evidence that helped convict mr. gardner. >> reporter: he was convicted on two counts of sexual battery and one count of object penetration. the jury recommended 22 years. parents of two of the girls say they wanted more but they're satisfied. >> all i wanted was an end to the violence and safety for us and our children, for others. so we have that until the man is about 70 years old. >> the verdict will help with the healing. we're all going to press forward. the focus should be on these very brave young citizens and how justice was served. >> reporter: during the sentencing phase, four jurors wiped away tears as they listened to robin gardner on the stand. she cried as she told them about the impact of the case on her and her children. she said i am shock. the whole experience has been

horrific. >> i think you heard it during the sentencing hearing this is a life sentence because it's -- because their innocence has been stolen from them. >> reporter: in arlington county, peggy fox, 9news now. montgomery county police are searching for a robbery suspect who poses as an officer to lure in his victims. investigators say the suspects pulled the woman over near the 1600 block of st. camellia's drive in silver spring and used what looked like a police badge on a vest to fool the woman into thinking he was a real officer. once the woman got out of the car, the suspect robbed her. >> at that point while she was sitting on the curb, he searched her vehicle, all of the contents and then took her purse and cell phone. he then left in his vehicle. >> the suspect is described as a black man, 5'10", around 190 pounds. anyone with information is asked to call police. this afternoon former

presidential candidate michele bachmann is expected to endorse mitt romney to be the next president. bachmann dropped out of the race after as did pointing showing in iowa. >> her endorsement comes one day after newt gingrich dropped out of the race and he too said he would back romney. >> reporter: mitt romney is getting the support of some of his formal rivals. michele bachmann plans to endorse the former massachusetts governor during an event in virginia this afternoon. bachmann was once a presidential hopeful herself. she is a tea party favorite, a group romney has struggled to win over. this comes one day after newt gingrich dropped out of the race and pledged support for romney. >> this is a choice between mitt romney and the most radical leftist president in american history. >> reporter: the former speaker of the house won in georgia and south carolina but was never able to gain support beyond the south. >> i have to thank the voters of south carolina and i have to

apologize to them. we will have broken their tradition of always picking the nominee. >> reporter: newt gingrich hasn't always been a mitt romney find. the obama camp reminded voters about what he had to say about romney during the campaign. obama's team release add web ad using gingrich's own words. >> are you calling mitt romney a liar? >> yes. >> reporter: president obama officially kicks off his reelection efforts with events in ohio and virginia this weekend. romney is also focusing on the state. he talked with business owners in chantilly yesterday. >> people ask me, what would you do to get the economy going. i say well, look at what the president has done and do the opposite. >> reporter: romney will stay in virginia today with a campaign event in portsmouth. tara mergener for cbs news, washington. virginia governor bob mcdonnell will also be at the romney event. mcdonnell is reportedly one of the people being considered as a vice presidential candidate with mitt romney. a new poll shows that mitt

romney trails president obama in virginia even if romney were to pick governor bob mcdonnell as his vice presidential candidate. the poll was released this week by public policy polling. the service suggests 51% of virginia voters would choose president obama on voting day. 43% would choose romney- mcdonnell ticket. new information about the secret service sex scandal is being revealed. it deals with the lie detector test taken by the 12 agents implicated in the scanned arl. according to new york representative peter king, three of the acts refused to -- agents refused to take the test. nunn of the remining nine agents failed the test. hillary clinton is in china for economic talks but so far most of the attention has been centered around chinese activist chen guangcheng. china's president said china

and the u.s. must respect each other even if they disagree. chen triggered a diplomatic situation when he escaped house arrest and fled to the u.s. embassy in beijing. he voluntarily left the embassy yesterday but now says he fears for his family's safety and wants to come to the united states. the state of virginia is now asking a judge to overturn the verdict in the wrongful death lawsuit against virginia tech. last month a jury ruled in favor of two families of students who were killed in the 2007 mass shootings at the school. the jurors concluded that virginia tech officials waited too long to alert the students on the rest of the campus. state attorneys have filed a motion asking for the judge to rule in favor of the state instead. they arked the evidence present -- argued the evidence presented at trial did not support the jury's findings. his bus veered off the highway last may killing five passengers. now we're learning the driver will be in court june 25 facing manslaughter charges. he was driving a sky express

bus when he swerved off the highway. he admitted to police he fell asleep behind the wheel. governor martin o'malley has called for a special session of the state assembly. the governor, senate president mike miller and house speaker michael bush agreed to reconvene the assembly on may 14. lawmakers will try to balance out the so-called doomsday budget which would cut $500 million in state spending. miller expects the general assembly to settle the issue within a couple of days. here's a look at some of the other things making news this morning. police in phoenix are trying to determine what led to a man to kill four people, including a toddler, and then kill himself. the man has been identified at j.t. ready. he made headlines when he launch add militia movement to patrol the arizona desert looking for illegal immigrants.

junior seau was found in dead at his beach front home north of san diego yesterday. he had been shot in the chest and a gun was nearby but there was no suicide note. however, police say they're investigating it as a suicide. seau was a 12-time pro bowler in his 13 seasons with the san diego chargers. the 43-year-old leaves behind three children. 13 people have now been charged in the hazing death of a florida a.m. university drum major. 26-year-old robert champion was beaten to death aboard a bus last november. champion suffered bruises to his chest, arms and his back and he went into shock and died of internal bleeding. police expect to be filing even more charges in the case. the time is 4:37. will wet weather wash out the weekend? howard will let us know in two minutes. >> an online super store is getting into the tv business sort of. jessica doyle explains in your money at 4:42. >> a local company developed a new test which they believe could become a vital tool for

rape victims. we'll have more on that at 4:50. 9news now returns in two minutes with your weather first.

4:40 on this thursday morning. we've got lots of clouds out there. up north we've got a couple of showers some far northern maryland. we may see an isolated storm. should be warmer. highs in the low to possibly mid-80s. we'll have the weekend outlook and it's not looking all that bad when i see you in a few minutes. monika is in with time saver traffic. tow trucks have arrived at the scene of a accident from 3:30 this morning on the inner loop before route 450. right now the right side of the roadway is blocked. it should be cleared again within the next 20 minutes.

coming up in my next report, i'll update you on an accident in clinton at 4:47. time for the first your money segment of the morning. >> jessica doyle is here with headlines. kind of a flat day yesterday. >> kind after boring day. we're hoping for better things today. it could depend on two key reports. chain stores will release their april retail sales figures and we'll find out how many americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. stocks mixed after a new report showed private companies hired fewer workers than expected in april. that raised concerns that friday's unemployment report could come in weak. the dow stands this morning at 13,269, dropped 11 points, small pullback from the four- year high. the nasdaq reversed an early loss to close 9 points higher and the s&p 500 was down about 3.5. americans are growing more frustrated with customer service and businesses are feeling the heat. a new survey by american express finds 93% of consumers say companies fail to live up to their service expectations.

55% have actually bailed on a purchase in the past year because of poor customer service. amazon says it will start making its own television shows. the company plans to develop original comedy and children's series this year. consumers will be able to watch on its streaming service. amazon instant video. google and the steaming service hulu has plans as well. netflix also launched an original series. this is the big trend trying to compete with the big guys in the business. >> it's notten easy business to get in. >> what they can do is some traditional, be a little racier. we'll see which way he head out. >> the written word is getting to be a novelty on tv. >> exactly. content is like-- >> content will be important. >> hopefully it's important. fare hikes, higher parking fees could be coming to a

county near you. >> we'll have more on that story and bring you the latest on what you can expect the weekend to look like. that's all when we return in to minutes with your weather first. you're watching 9news now.

to. good morning. welcome back. is there going to be another thunder boomer in our area? >> some spots, yes. they're going to be rolling through areas in far northern and northeastern maryland. they may sink a little closer to us but i think they're going to stay generally north and northeast of d.c. here's a look at the regional dopplers to answer your question. you can see the storms that have been falling in southern pennsylvania drifting toward northeastern maryland. even a few storms toward the delmar advancement as you zoom in a little -- delmarva. as you soon in a little, over

toward baltimore county. live doppler 9000 hd, we're seeing n. here is westminster. this is getting close to mount airy, maybe new market you might see some of this, new market, maryland that is. this may stay close to walkersville and libertytown. north of baltimore you see the showers moving south and east and lightning and thunder there. around here other than the showers well north of town on our bus stop forecast, you'll need a jacket i think. it's kind of damp and cool. temps in the 50s to low 60s. we have this boundary set up. yesterday's highs ranged in the mid-60s at bwi to mid-80s like culpeper. we were sort of on the edge of that boundary. instead of being in the 80s, we stopped in the mid-70s for our highs and sunrise 6:08. today we're starting with clouds. some patchy fog in spots even. some low clouds out there. 60 by 8:00. by noon the clouds are going to start to break up. unlike yesterday it took a little bit longer. i think we'll see the sun a little biltmore today. we should get to 84 for a high.

there will be a chance later on this afternoon that we pop up a thunderstorm or two. there's going to be enough energy, enough moisture that whatever does develop will be on the strong side kind of like yesterday when we had the isolated warnings up toward frederick and martinsburg and hagerstown. 54 right now in gaithersburg. hagerstown is 55. 60 in luray. a little warmer south and in the mid-50s in places like baltimore. here's a look outside on our michael & son weather camera. you can see the haze and low cloudiness with 57 degrees reported at reagan national. an east, northeast wind at 10. you want to see the winds go more southeast or southerly. as long as we have some sort of an east to northeast push, that means we're on the cool side of the boundary. we have the jet stream coming on shore in the west. very active. you see the showers and storms from nebraska into minnesota and wisconsin. then more storms this morning.

we're just watching them up to the north and east. looks like they're going to sink south and east and fall apart. later this afternoon we'll see what pops up north to west drifting this way for the late afternoon and evening in a couple of spots. today 84. tomorrow 87. there will be a chance for a few more storms tomorrow afternoon after dipping into the 60s tonight. on saturday it's going to be a warm day, just an isolated storm possible, 80. starting a little bit after cooling trend for sunday and monday into the low 70s. tuesday some storms, around 80. wednesday there will be some showers also, 74. monika is stepping in now at 4:48. a busy morning unfortunately. it really was. especially in prince george's county and southern maryland. good morning, everybody. i'm going to start off with the beltway in prince george's county. the accident happened around 3:30 this morning on the inner loop before route 450 along the right side of the road. it was involving a car and a tractor-trailer. crews are still on the scene. they've got the tow trucks there and they tell us by about the next ten minutes or so, hopefully that should be

cleared up. volumes are light enough right now that i don't think it's causing much of a delay. a little further south live right now. here's what it looks like at route 50 south of the accident scene. you're going to be fine here. inner loop of the beltway southbound before route 450 for the accident there. let's go a little further south into brandywine at the intersection of 5 and 301, everything is fine but southbound route 5 branch avenue after sarrath road has been closed for a serious single-vehicle accident. tow truck is on the scene there. springfield northbound 95, luckily this is incident free heading to 395. an update on those accidents at 4:55. >> thanks, monika. montgomery county council's transportation committee is debating a proposal which calls for changes in transportation fees and charges. they include raising the fee for long-term parking from 75 cents an hour to 85 cents in the bethesda parking lot district and also raising the

cost of monthly ride on pass from $40 to $45. if approved increases could begin july 1. antipsychotic drugs significantly lower the risk of relapse in patients with schizophrenia. after analyzing 50 years of data, doctors in germany found patients who receive the drug are significantly less likely to be hospitalized and behave aggressively. overall they found antipsychotic drugs reduce relapse rates anywhere from 27% to 64%. researchers at the university of virginia identified a protein which may trigger the development of alzheimer's disease. the protein makes other chemicals in the brain more toxic and it ultimately kills brain cells. this finding could lead to a more effective drug therapy for treatments. a new study highlights the importance of breast cancer screening for average risk women in their 40s. researchers in rochester, new york found more than half of the women who are diagnosed with breast cancer in this age group had no family history of

the disease. doctors say the data confirms the benefits of yearly screening. a maryland company appears to have developed a paternity test which is accurate 100 percent of the time. the test was created by columbia-based ravegen. it is able to show paternity at eight to 14 weeks gestation which is very early in pregnancy. the c.e.o. tells 9news this kind of test could be a vital new tool for victims of rape. >> people can safely find out who the father of the baby is in the pregnancy and in serious situations such as in rape, these young women may have a boyfriend but they do not know whether the pregnancy was as a result of the sexual assault or because of intercourse with a consensual partner. >> an estimated 5% of rape victims get pregnant. that's roughly 32,000 pregnancies a year. many are term naipted before pa

-- terminated before paternity is established. nearly half a million children are born prematurely in america. >> that's a higher rate than in 130 other nations. anita brikman has more. >> yes, say i'm such a big girl. >> reporter: these days this baby is happy and playful at eight months but her life got off to a scary start. her mother rita suddenly went into labor two months early. >> i was terrifed. will my baby have health problems? you go down and see your baby in this contraption with tubes and monitors. >> reporter: she is one of half a million premature babies born in the united states each year. a new report shows the u.s. has one of the worst preterm birth rates in the world, 12%, the same rate as thailand, turkey and somali. experts say one reason is that mothers here have children later in life which leads to multiple pregnancies and that can raise the risk of early deliveries but many pre-term

births are a mistily. >> we don't know 50% pre-term births. don't know the explanation. >> reporter: it's any time before 37 weeks gestation. the earlier the baby is delivered, the greater chance he or she will suffer lifelong health problems. >> main issues are brain development and lung development. >> reporter: mary is the average weight and height for her age but two months behind developmentally. >> i know her risk of having learning disabilities, having developmental delays are much higher than the afternoon child. >> reporter: but her mom is hopeful she'll catch up soon. anita brikman, 9news now. >> the good news is more preemies can be saved thanks to advances in neonatal medicine. doctors can stop early concontractions helping moms extend their pregnancy as long as possible. if you're just waking up, how about the question of the

morning. >> the question is 71% of men say they will not let their significant other do this. is it a, cook, b, go through their cell phone or c, propose to them? >> that's aning about to them. log on to wusa9's facebook fan page and leave your answer. we'll have the answer in our 6:00 hour.

welcome back. your weather first at 4:56. we have some clouds out there and even some showers in northern and eastern maryland this morning. clouds will give way to sunshine. it will help get temperatures into the low to mid-#s on with -- mid-80s with also a threat of a pop-up thunderstorm, some of which could be on the strong side.

we'll watch that as the day goes on. maryland state police have been dealing with an accident involving a tractor-trailer and passenger vehicle. it's finally been cleared. all lanes open southbound 495 before route 450. more coming up at 5:00. if you ask how much, it probably means you couldn't afford it in the first place. the painting, the scream is now one of the worldest most expensive pieces of art. the iconic painting sold for a record $119.9 million at auction last night. the previous record was $106.5 million. the buyer's name was not released. a controversial ad for pop chips featuring ashton kutcher has been pulled off youtube and facebook after viewers said it was racist. it shows the 34-year-old actor in brown skin portraying a bollywood producer from india named rag looking for love. a spokeswoman said the dating parody was intended to be funny and was never intended to

stereotype or offend anyone. tony nominees take a bite out of the big apple. >> we have more in today's look at entertainment. >> reporter: it was the nominees reception for the tony awards in new york. >> i don't think about the past or any favorite roles. i think about what i'm doing at the moment. it is my favorite role. >> reporter: these women each have five previous nominations. the new trailer for "the dark knight rises" is out. batman tries to protect got them from a new villain. it takes eight years after the event of the dark knight. it opens july 20. scarlett johansson now has a store on hollywood's walk of fame. >> i never would have thought

this possible, a permanent home on hollywood boulevard. >> reporter: johannson who is 27 has been acting most of her life. she made her day view in an off broadway play at the age of 8 and also appeared on late night with conan o'brien the same year. johannson's honor comes just in time for friday's release of her new movie "the avengers ." she co-stars as the black widow. pepsi is giving katie perry's fans a chance to attend the los angeles premier of her upcoming concert movie. the soda company is also live streaming the premiere online. the movie hits theaters on july 5. that's your eye on entertainment, cbs news, hollywood. don't ever look back. look forward because you're watching 9news now at 5:00 a.m. good morning. i'm andrea roane. thursday is here. that means you're almost there. i'm mike hydeck. thanks for joining